Remedies
by VGWrighte
Summary: Episode companion for Milagro. Scully/Mulder friendship, MSR slowburn (because that's all that episode was).
1. Captain Scully's Patented Cure

Remedies

Part 1: Captain Scully's Patented Cure for Insomnia

Based upon The X-Files, created by Chris Carter

Takes place immediately following Milagro. Cannon compliant.

\- Hagel Place, Apartment 42 -

Time lost meaning as Mulder held her. He didn't care that he was on his knees, bent over at an unnatural angle, supporting her weight. It didn't matter. She clung to him with a wild abandoned he had rarely seen from her. It was different than when he held her after her capture by Donnie Pfaster. Yes, in both situations, she had been hysterical and inconsolable. The difference was that at the time, he had only been her friend, her coworker, now . . . He didn't know what he was now, but it was more.

Mulder barely registered the sound of footsteps in the hall. "_Door ajar_," one voice said, "_this might be it_." There was silence for a moment. "District police. Sir, is she injured?"

Not looking back, Mulder realized what was happening. One of the tenants in the building must have called the police after hearing gunshots. He reached into his back pocket and showed them his badge. "Get the EMTs up here!"

"EMTs to apartment 4-2," the policeman said into his radio. "Possible gunshot wound to a female, conscious. Unknown status, unknown ambulatory."

"Scully," he said quietly, leaning back slightly. She clung to him, not letting him go. "It's okay, it's okay. I've got you." He tried again and she loosened her grip, but certainly didn't release him.

"Sir," the policeman said, "who did this?"

"He's in the basement, the furnace room," Mulder said, mostly ignoring them. The policeman called something else into his radio. Mulder returned his full attention to Scully. "The EMTs are on their way up, let's get you off the floor."

Face buried in his neck, she nodded.

Mulder shifted his grip on her, sliding one arm behind her knees and the other tightening around her shoulders. He lifted her off the floor and slowly stood, one foot at a time. Carefully, he moved to the couch and set her down lengthwise on it, sitting on the edge of it, providing her a barrier on the outside.

She loosened her grip and leaned back against the arm. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his upper arms, allowing him some dexterity.

Mulder was mildly aware of the policemen watching them. He gently unbuttoned two buttons of her blouse, and saw that her skin was whole. Covered in blood, but whole.

"Can you move aside, Sir, please?"

Mulder looked up to see two EMTs. A young man and a young woman. He briefly wondered if either of them were old enough to drink.

Scully squeezed his arms. "It's okay," she said, having regained some of her composure.

Mulder got up and the EMTs moved in, asking Scully questions. He looked away as they opened up her shirt, he felt as if he was intruding. Upon turning around, he saw her weapon on the floor, the slide locked back, the magazine empty. He moved to pick it up, firearms shouldn't be left lying around on the floor.

One of the policemen stopped him. "Sir, this is an active crime scene. Please don't move anything."

Mulder nodded, his mind moving slowly. He thought he may be in shock.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

He scrubbed his hands over his face.

"Sir, can you tell me what happened?"

Mulder shook his head, glancing back at Scully. She had gotten very quiet, and he saw she wasn't sobbing anymore. "I wasn't here when it happened. I was downstairs with Paget. I came up after the gunshots. I found her on the floor."

"There's another assailant?" The policeman asked. "Was he shot? Can you describe him?"

Mulder shook his head. "I need you to call Walter Skinner." He started looking for his cell phone, so they could call Skinner.

"Who's Walter Skinner?"

"He's our boss, he understands the case. I'm not in a position to help you right now." He handed the office his phone and suddenly realized he was covered in blood. Mulder looked down at his shirt, a massive blood stain across the chest. Her blood. "I gotta change."

He walked away from the officer, into his bedroom, dazed. He grabbed a shirt from its place on the dresser. He sniffed it, clean enough. Mulder stepped into the bathroom and stripped the shirt over his head. Her blood was on his chest, too. He wet down a towel and wiped her blood off his chest before sliding the new shirt on.

He returned to the living room, now a veritable circus, and sat down next to Scully. She was sitting upright on the couch now, still being examined by the EMTs. She took his hand in hers as soon as he sat down.

Skinner arrived, flashing his badge. He surveyed the scene and then came over to them. "Are you alright?" he asked.

They both nodded. "Yes, Sir, I'm fine," Scully said.

"Mulder," he said, "why don't you pack a bag."

He didn't fully understand why, but he squeezed Scully's hand and got up.

"And find something clean for Agent Scully to wear, if you don't mind."

Mulder nodded again and went to the bedroom. He opened his drawers and threw some clothes for tomorrow and sleeping in a duffle bag. He grabbed his overnight case (complete with toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving kit, and shower kit) and put that in the bag as well. He then looked around for a shirt for Scully. He didn't own anything that small. He settled on a plain white t-shirt - one without holes - and a plain gray sweatshirt. The t-shirt wouldn't be too large, but he was sure that she would swim in the sweatshirt.

When he returned to the living room, Skinner was sitting on the coffee table, leaning close to Scully. She nodded and stood up, putting her hand on his shoulder for support. She walked by Mulder into the bedroom, grabbing the clothes from him. "Thank you," she mumbled.

Skinner stood up and approached him. "Are you alright?"

Mulder nodded.

Skinner put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Mulder, are you okay?"

He shook himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just - ah - I thought she was dead."

Skinner nodded. "Listen, the EMTs want to take her to the hospital. They have no idea what happened and want to get her checked out. Based on the details of the case, I think we can avoid that today. Take her home, stay with her overnight. I'll call you with the details of her appointment at the hospital tomorrow."

"She's not going to want me to stay."

Skinner harrumphed. "Don't be so sure. She's already agreed and I didn't even have to threaten calling her mother."

A few minutes later, Scully emerged, wearing his sweatshirt, sleeves rolled up so that her hands peeked out, with her jacket and shirt clenched in her hand. One of the officers held out an evidence bag for her and she placed them inside.

"Go ahead," Skinner said, "I'll take care of everything here."

Mulder put his hand on Scully's lower back and led her away from the crime scene. He drove them in her car to her apartment. They were both silent the entire way. When they got inside, he bolted the door behind them. "I'm going to take a shower," she said.

He nodded. "Okay," and watched her go. He collapsed onto the couch when she disappeared into the bathroom. He wasn't sure he'd ever been this tired. Emotionally exhausted.

Once he heard the shower running, he took the opportunity to change into the clothes he brought to sleep in: another t-shirt and sweat pants. He decided her make her some tea. He knew Scully kept decaffeinated tea in the house. Sometimes she had some if the day was long and she needed to unwind.

He made two cups.

Mulder left the kettle on the stove, and only filled the cups three quarters full so he could warm them up when she got out of the shower. He sat at the table and waited for the shower to turn off.

Finally, it did, and not long after, Scully emerged. She was wearing a matching flannel pajama set and her robe over.

"I made tea," he said lamely.

"Thank you." She sat down at the table next to him and sipped it. She shivered.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm in mild shock," she said somewhat clinically. "I'll be alright after I get some sleep."

They drank their tea in silence. Once she finished her cup, she stood up. "Thank you."

"Good night," he said.

"Good night."

She lamely stared at him for a moment.

He took her hand and squeezed it. "Let me know if you need anything."

She nodded and went to her bedroom, shutting the door most of the way, but leaving it cracked open. He moved to the couch and stretched out. He knew it was going to be a vain attempt to sleep, but he thought he should try anyway.

He closed his eyes and saw her lying on the floor of his apartment, in a puddle of her own blood. The blood soaking a large stain across her silk blouse.

He started awake. Something woke him. He sat up and looked around. Scully was in the kitchen, standing on a chair, getting to the top shelf of the cabinet above the microwave.

"Scully?" he said quietly.

She turned. She was holding something, he couldn't tell what it was in the darkness.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. What are you doing?"

She held up what she was holding, it appeared to be a bottle of whiskey. "Couldn't sleep."

"Scully, I don't think getting drunk is a good idea."

"I'm not." She climbed off the chair and retrieved two juice glasses from the cupboard. "Captain Scully's Patented Cure for Insomnia." She poured two glasses, measuring the amount in each glass by holding two fingers horizontally against the outside of the glass. "My father wasn't much of a drinker - sailor or not - but when he couldn't sleep, he would have a little bit of whiskey. About a shot and a half put him out like a light."

She left the whiskey bottle on the counter and joined him on the couch. She sat next to him, hips and thighs touching. He pulled the coffee table closer so she, too, could put her feet up on it. He pulled the blanket over both of their legs. She handed him the second glass. She sipped the whiskey, making a face as she swallowed. He followed her lead.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his faculties having returned to him.

"Foolish," she admitted.

"Why?"

She shook her head. "I put myself in so much danger with him and I have no idea why. I did things and it was like I was watching myself do them. I couldn't understand why."

"Scully . . . " he took a deep breath. "He had some kind of power. Not just over you. Somehow, what he wrote became real. You saw the Naciamento, he almost killed you, and Paget made him do that. Paget brought him back and made him do that. I think that's why he disappeared when Paget burned his manuscript."

"It was more than that," she said.

"It was. Because he didn't have that kind of power over you." He was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to know why?" He looked down at her, she glanced up for a fleeting second before staring ahead again, continuing to sip her whiskey.

"Because he was wrong about you."

She looked up at him suddenly, as if he had unveiled the elephant in the room. "And not just how he said he was," Mulder said, recalling Paget's earlier words: Agent Scully is already in love. "He had this vision of you. Of who he thought you were. Of who he thought you should be. Of who he wanted you to be. But he was wrong."

"How do you know that?" she asked quietly, clearly confronting the fear that everything Paget wrote about her was completely true, and that she was some shallow caricature of herself.

"Because he didn't know you."

"And you do?"

"I do. Because we have been friends and partners for six years. We've spent hours on planes, trains, and automobiles . . ." At another time she would have given him a pity laugh for that joke, but not today. "And he just stalked you."

The truth hung in the silence.

"He stalked you. And the woman he wrote was the woman he wanted you to be. Not the woman you are."

Scully downed the last of her glass, grimacing. She leaned away from him for half a second to place the glass on the end table. When she set it down, she leaned into his shoulder and rested her hand on his chest.

Mulder set his whiskey down, not finishing it, and put his arm around her, pulling her closer. He pulled the blanket up a little higher around her. "He was in love with some version of you that doesn't exist. Not you." _Not like I am_, he thought, the words swallowed in his throat.

She clenched her hand around his t-shirt once. Twice. "Thank you for staying with me," she said softly.

"What are friends for?" Mulder sagged into the couch a little and allowed himself to fall asleep with Scully. Not for the first time in six years, and certainly not the last.

\- End Part 1 -


	2. The Miracle of Modern Medicine

Remedies

Part 2: The Miracle of Modern Medicine

Based upon The X-Files, created by Chris Carter

Note: I did a lot of googling for this one and everyone is named after someone I know in the medical profession.

\- Our Lady of Sorrows Hospital Waiting Room - The Next Morning -

Mulder and Scully sat in the waiting room, waiting for Scully's turn. Skinner had called early that morning with the appointment information. He was able to get her a cardiology appointment before appointments usually began. Mulder had not woken up when he called, nor when the phone rang a second time.

He had woken to the sound of Scully's hushed voice from the kitchen. He had been more than a little disoriented. Sure, he often slept on his own couch, but usually not sitting upright. He often dreamt about Scully (romantic and otherwise) so thinking about her first thing wasn't abnormal either. The fact that he actual heard her was what confused him. Then he remembered falling asleep with her curled up against him on her couch, after her being attacked.

He listened to her conversation, feeling a little bad about his intrusion. It didn't take very long to realize she was on the phone with her mother. Once Scully realized he was awake, she politely ended the conversation with her mother, saying that she had appointment to get to. She informed Mulder that they had to leave for the hospital in about 20 minutes, if he wanted to grab a shower, and that she had left him towels on the sink.

He took a quick shower, trying not to think about the fact that the last person to use that shower was Scully and that she was naked when she did so. Of course she was. That was how people showered: nude.

When he was showered and shaved, she had a travel mug of coffee ready for him and they headed out the door. She let him drive her car to the hospital and here they were, waiting their turn.

About ten minutes after sitting down, a very kind-looking middle-aged nurse walked into the waiting room. "Dana Scully," she called out gently. Mulder thought it was somewhat unnecessary, they were the only ones there. They both stood and followed the nurse, who introduced herself as Andrea, back to one of the patient rooms.

Scully sat on the bed and Mulder leaned against the window sill, too nervous to sit. Andrea closed the door behind them. "It looks like you're here this morning for possible cardiac distress?"

Scully nodded.

"Can you tell me what happened or what your symptoms are?"

"No symptoms yet. But, I was in an altercation. The details aren't important."

Mulder noticed the subtle change of expression on Andrea's face and her quick glance at him.

"Well, we've got you set up with a baseline electrocardiogram - that will take about 45 minutes to an hour - then echocardiogram, which won't take very long once we get started." She pointed to the gown on the bed. "If you wouldn't mind getting changed, I can get the EKG set up and we can get this show on the road."

"Could you give me a hand with that? There's a lot of bruising in my chest and I'm having some trouble with the range of motion in my shoulders."

Again, Mulder noticed the expression on Andrea's face. But this time, she didn't glance at him, she looked him straight in the face, suddenly not looking as sweet as she had before. "If you'll excuse us, Sir."

"He's fine," Scully said.

Andrea smiled gently at her. "It's standard procedure when a patient is changing."

"It'll be right outside, Scully," he told her as he headed out the door. He shut it behind him and tried not to pace in the hallway. After leaning against the wall for a grand total of 10 seconds, he started to pace.

It took just a few minutes for Andrea to open the door with a smile. "You can come back in, Mr. Scully," she said. "The EKG is set up and the sonographer will be around in the next hour or so for the echocardiogram."

He thanked her and reentered Scully's room, shutting the door behind him. Scully sat reclined on the bed, upright. She was in the hospital gown, her clothes folded carefully on the side table, and the blanket up over her legs. He could see the wires extending from her gown and the EKG machine was rhythmically beeping away.

Mulder sat down in the chair by the window and watched Scully stare at her hands.

"She thought it was me, didn't she?" he asked.

"Well, you can hardly blame her. She probably sees it all the time."

"Sees what?"

"A battered woman come in with the man who beat her with a non-descript story or insisting it was an accident."

"What did you tell her? Or are the police on the way?"

"I told her that you were my partner, that the man who did this is dead and we have a police report on file. I gave her Skinner's contact information. She's probably calling him."

Mulder nodded and looked at his hands. "Is it bad?" he asked after a minute.

"There's some substantial bruising that formed overnight." She gently probed the center of her chest. "It's sore and sensitive to the touch."

"Any permanent damage?" he asked.

"That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"I guess so." They fell into silence, which was far less companionable then it typically was. The EKG machine beeped away.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to rest. He could see her gently wringing her hands. He grabbed the stack of magazines next to him and leafed through them. He flipped the pages of the Scientific American, nothing caught his eye. He picked up the next magazine. "Hey, Scully, which Backstreet Boy are you?" he flipped to the quiz and skimmed the questions.

When she didn't answer, he looked up at her. Her you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-Mulder face was in full bloom. "I knew it," he said. "You're an N'SYNC person, aren't you?" She didn't let up. "This might ruin our partnership."

"Mulder, please," she said.

He dropped the magazine. "I've never been a good wait-er," he admitted.

She scoffed. "I noticed the first time a pencil fell out of the ceiling and hit me on the head."

"That's not boredom, that's a sport. Record is 5 sticks at once."

She shook her head in the expression he had come to know as God-help-me-my-partner-is-a-child.

They fell into silence again. He did really well for about 6 minutes before he turned back to the less-than-stellar collection of magazines.

"Do you want something?" she asked him. "Cup of coffee? Snickers bar? You don't have to sit here with me."

"No, I want to. Unless. . . Unless you want me out of your hair."

She shook her head and held out her hand towards him. He took her hand in his and shifted the angle of his chair so it was next to the bed, instead of facing it. They rested their arms on the bed, next to her.

He rubbed his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. After a few moments, she gave his hand a little squeeze. She was glad he was there.

After another few minutes, she must have felt his restlessness growing again. "Do you mind turning on the news?" she asked. He knew she wasn't asking for herself, but wanted to give him something to concentrate on. He gratefully turned on CNN, watching it mindlessly, trying not to pay attention to the little clock in the corner of the screen, marking minutes.

Four stories he didn't care about later, there was a light knock at the door. It opened to reveal a bright young face. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Scully." She backed into the room with equipment he assumed was the ultrasound. "I'm Chelsea. I'll be your sonogram technician this morning. We'll get started and the Nurse Practitioner will join us soon."

"Nurse Practitioner?" Mulder asked. No doctor?

Chelsea smiled. "Yes, Kim has been a cardiac NP for seven years now."

Scully squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Mulder, NPs are highly trained. If there's anything she can't handle, she'll bring in a cardiologist," she explained softly.

Mulder nodded. Wasn't he supposed to be reassuring her? Wasn't that why he was there?

Chelsea set up her equipment and once she was ready to start, she turned back to Scully. "Okay, Dana, I'm just going to open this up a little."

Scully nodded.

Mulder tried to release her hand and turn away, but Scully wouldn't release his hand. He tried his best not to stare at her chest, but he caught a brief glimpse of the bruising, which caused him to not avert his gaze. It was not hand shaped, as he had imagined. It was just a darkening splotch and covered her sternum and traveled underneath the cups of her bra. By the coloring, Mulder knew it was going to get a lot uglier before it started to heal.

Chelsea gasped as she saw the bruising, eyes going wide.

"It's okay," Scully said, seemingly to Chelsea, but really to both of them. "They got the guy."

"Goodness," Chelsea said. "I'm glad they did. Does it hurt?"

Scully shook her head. "It's sore, but it's not too bad."

Chelsea took a deep breath and put on her brave face. "Let's take a look what's going on in there."

As she spread the gel on Scully's chest, Mulder did avert his gaze, nerves returning. "This is not how I imagined our first sonogram," he said, hiding a nervous chuckle.

Scully shot a glare at him, but Chelsea laughed. "I'm sure you'll have many more that are far more pleasant than this one, Mr. Scully."

Scully opened her mouth to correct the girl, but Mulder spoke first. "I'm sure, too." He squeezed Scully's hand.

The sound of Scully's heartbeat filled the room through the ultrasound as Chelsea explored the area. After a minute or so, there was another knock at the door and a middle aged woman in a pant suit under a medical coat walked in. She smiled.

"Good morning, Kim," Chelsea said. "This is Dana and Mulder Scully. Mrs. Scully came in this morning for some possible cardiac distress. She's been on an EKG for about an hour and I'm almost through with my pictures."

"Thank you, Chelsea. Good morning, Dana, Mulder, I'm Kim Gomez, your nurse practitioner."

"Good morning," Mulder said. Normally, he would shake her hand, but he was still holding Scully's and didn't want to release her. He thought that she would take an opportunity to separate them.

"Let's see what we have here," Kim went to the EKG and started reviewing the time history. "I'm not seeing anything abnormal here. No skipped beats. No arterial fibrillation. No arrhythmia." She turned to the ultrasound and watched for a few moments. She frowned.

"What?" Mulder asked.

"There's a lot of bruising and we're not getting a great picture. I'd like to get you a cardiac MRI this morning. We should be able to squeeze you in." She took the stethoscope from around her neck and warmed up the membrane. "Chelsea, would you mind going to see if we can get into the MRI suite this morning?"

"Of course."

Chelsea left and Kim listened to Scully's heart. They did the standard listening to the front, the back, breathing, not breathing. "Everything sounds alright, but I'd like to get a few more pictures before we send you home." She wrapped her stethoscope back around her neck. "Someone will be back in a few minutes to take you to MRI. If it turns out we can't get you in, I'll be back in about a half hour for your discharge."

Scully shook her hand and thanked her. As soon as she left Scully glared at him. It was her you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me glare.

"What?" he asked preemptively.

"They think your name in Mulder Scully."

He licked his lips and smiled. "You didn't think that was funny."

"Mulder, please," she said in her just-give-me-a-break voice.

He sighed and squeezed her hand. "You're right, I'll cut it out."

After a few minutes, Chelsea returned to take Scully with her, instructing Mulder to wait in the waiting room. He found an empty seat and gave a valiant effort to reading a magazine. He abandoned it after a few minutes and settled on staring at the muted television with disinterest.

After a few minutes, he was Chelsea enter the waiting room. "Mr. Scully?" she said.

He stood up to greet her.

"Your wife forgot about this, she asked me to give it to you for safe keeping," she held out her hand and dropped Scully's necklace into his.

"She's not my wife," he admitted.

Chelsea gave him a puzzled look.

"We're partners. Work partners."

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" the girl seemed mortified.

"No, I didn't correct you. It just seems . . . Silly."

Chelsea smiled. "Sometimes our work families are just as important as our blood families."

Mulder nodded. "Yeah, they are."

Chelsea smiled again. "If you need anything, the nurse at the desk can help." She gestured toward the desk before turning away and headed back to wherever she came from.

Mulder dropped into his chair and looked at Scully's cross. Of course, he thought of the first time he had possession of it: he found on Skyline Mountain. And again, he found it in Antarctica, after he traveled to the bottom of the world to find her. Chelsea was right, sometimes work families (if that's how you could describe his and Scully's relationship) were just as important as blood families.

He must've been sitting there lost in thought for a while because the next thing he knew, Kim was standing in front of him saying his name. "Dana's just getting changed," she said. "The MRI looked good, so I'm not concerned. The bruising is quite extensive, so I've written her a prescription for a Vitamin K cream which should help. And just make sure that she ices it regularly. She can also increase her zinc, vitamin K, and citrus intake over the next week or so; that also helps heal bruising a little faster."

Mulder nodded. "Thank you. Is there anything I should look out for?"

Kim shook her head slowly. "Everything looked fine. If she has any trouble breathing or pain while coughing or laughing, it's probably due to the bruising. But feel free to bring her back if it's anything seems like more than simple discomfort."

Mulder nodded again.

Kim smiled. She must've seen something on his face. She put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "She's going to be fine. I've never seen an injury like this before and I can't imagine what caused it, but it wasn't that bad."

Mulder let out a sigh and was going to respond, but was distracted by Scully coming down the hallway. She looked fine.

Kim turned to see what he was looking at and saw Scully. She reached into her pocket and handed a piece of paper, the prescription Mulder guess, to Scully. "Let me know if you think it's getting worse," she said to Scully.

"I will, thank you." Scully shook her hand and so did Mulder.

Mulder just looked at Scully as Kim walked away. After a moment Scully spoke, "ready to go home?"

Mulder nodded, wishing that home was a single place for the both of them. They headed towards the door. "Lunch?"

"Mexican?"

"Lead on."

\- - FIN - -


End file.
